Spain wins its World Cup group, beating Uruguay, Muslera’s error sends 2-time champion home

Spain defeated Uruguay 1-0 after another goalkeeping mistake by Fernando Muslera, advancing to the knockout stage of the World Cup and eliminating the South American powerhouse.
Uruguay, a two-time champion, will go home without any victories in its three Group H games. Spain, the European champion, won the group with seven points and will face the second-place team from Group J — either Austria or Algeria — on Thursday in Inglewood, California.

Alex Baena scored in the 42nd minute after Muslera couldn’t fully swat away his shot from inside the area. It was the third blunder of the tournament by the 40-year-old Muslera, who asked coach Marcelo Bielsa to substitute him at halftime. Sergio Rochet came in to start the second half. “He is the one who decided to leave,” Bielsa said.

The veteran Argentine coach said he feels like Uruguay deserved better luck considering its performances, and should have earned seven points instead of two from its group matches. But he took full responsibility for the team’s failure.

“No one wants to listen to explanations now,” Bielsa said. At 19th in FIFA rankings, Uruguay is the highest-ranked team to be eliminated so far. “Every match is different and you have to win every type of match,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. 

“This was a game with maximum difficulty.” De la Fuente said midfielder Yeremy Pino likely suffered a broken collarbone that would sideline him for the rest of the tournament. Pino, who entered the match in the 66th minute, stayed on until the end despite the injury because Spain had already made all five substitutions. 

Cape Verde, which played Saudi Arabia to a 0-0 draw in the other group game on Friday, finished second in the group with three points, one more than both Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Uruguay finished third but without enough points to be among best eight third-place teams that will advance.